Art History News: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen at Rijksmuseum

About 90 works of art from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen can now be seen in the Philips Wing of the Rijksmuseum. The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to see this extraordinary collection in the Netherlands, as the museum building in Rotterdam is closed for renovation. With world-famous works such as The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel I, La petite danseuse de quatorze ans by Edgar Degas and the newly restored Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field (Floor Show) by Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen at Rijksmuseum can be seen from September 29, 2023 to January 14, 2024.

EVERYTHING THAT MAN EXPERIENCES IN HIS LIFE, SUCH AS BIRTH, YOUTH, ADULTHOOD, SEXUALITY, OLD AGE AND DEATH, IS UNIVERSAL, BUT HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED DIFFERENTLY OVER THE CENTURIES. THE EXHIBITION OFFERS, AS IT WERE, A JOURNEY THROUGH HUMAN EXISTENCE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT.

Friso Lammertse, curator of 17th-century Dutch painting at the Rijksmuseum

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED

The collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, largely brought together by Rotterdam collectors and industrialists who were passionate about art, is internationally renowned. The museum has famous old masters and a leading collection of contemporary art.

SELECTION

In addition to the works already mentioned, masterpieces include Two Girls with an Apple Tree by Edvard Munch (1905), Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Armand Roulin (1888), Composition with Color Fields by Piet Mondriaan (1917), The Shooting Gallery by Pyke Koch (1931) and The Pedlar by Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1500) part of the exhibition. There is also work on display by Cindy Sherman, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. In addition, a wide selection of top drawings from the print room is on display, including work by Käthe Kollwitz, Hendrik Goltzius, Peter Paul Rubens and Matthias Grünewald. The exhibition is structured thematically, so that works of art from all eras are shown in context.

FOR THE FIRST TIME

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field (Floor Show) (1965/1998) can be seen in the Rijksmuseum for the first time since its extensive restoration. A team of restorers from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen worked for months to clean the phalluses made of white fabric with red dots, so that this work looks like new again in the Rijksmuseum. Yayoi Kusama is one of the most important contemporary artists.

FOR EVERYONE

The light artwork Breathe, Walk, Die by Ugo Rondinone (2014) can be seen from Museumplein , built on the rear facade of the Rijksmuseum. In the atrium of the Philips Wing there is a work by Donald Judd ( Untitled , 1984) that consists of large aluminum areas of color.

CAUSE

The many years of renovation of the museum building of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the main reason for this collaboration. The opening of Depot Boijmans van Beuningen in 2021, the first publicly accessible collection building in the world, ensures that the collection is still accessible. For the first time since 2019, many important pieces from the Rotterdam collection can be seen in a museum presentation in the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands.

DESIGN

The design of the exhibition is in the hands of architects Ard de Vries and Donna van Milligen Bielke. Irma Boom is responsible for the graphic design.

AUDIO AND MUSIC TOUR

The exhibition is accompanied by an audio tour in which Rotterdam presenter and musician Raven van Dorst talks to the curators about the themes of the exhibition while walking past the works of art. There is also a music tour, composed and produced by DJ and producer Upsammy.

The exhibition Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen at Rijksmuseum was made possible by the generous loan from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.